Afghan Taliban raids largest US base

A Taliban suicide squad armed with bombs and rockets attacked the largest US military base in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, leaving one NATO soldier and two civilians injured.

An initial rocket attack on Kandahar airfield that left the three wounded was followed by a suicide bombing that sparked an hour-long gun battle, officials said.

The two suicide bombers detonated explosives strapped to their bodies outside the base perimeter, aiming to clear the entrance for the rest of the group to breach the wire, Kandahar provincial spokesman Zalmai Ayobi told AFP.

"Two of them blew themselves up, and the other four were killed in the subsequent firefight," he said.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack.

Kandahar Airfield is the main base in the area for troops fighting the insurgency, which is concentrated in the southern province of Kandahar. It houses tens of thousands of personnel.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government aims to take full responsibility for security in the country by the end of 2014, but the president of neighboring Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, said in an interview published Tuesday that the coalition forces "are losing the war."

"The international community, to which Pakistan belongs, is losing the war against the Taliban. This is, above all, because we have lost the battle to win hearts and minds," Zardari told French newspaper Le Monde, adding that the US and NATO-led coalition forces had "underestimated the situation on the ground" in Afghanistan.

Agencies